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Post by longsuffering on Jul 6, 2022 13:06:15 GMT -5
We're killing it in the PL for football. We're not filling Fitton, are we? I’m going to take a look at attendance and report back when I get a chance this evening I hope you find the trend is our friend. I don't know how you'll factor in/out Covid and a shortened season but looking forward to the analysis.
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Post by trimster on Jul 6, 2022 13:32:55 GMT -5
We're killing it in the PL for football. We're not filling Fitton, are we? Who you play matters. PL rivalries have never caught on except for a short time in hoops vs. Bucknell.
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Post by Non Alum Dave on Jul 6, 2022 14:09:46 GMT -5
We're killing it in the PL for football. We're not filling Fitton, are we? No, but a 20% increase in fans is a couple of thousand or so at the bottom of the hill and a couple of hundred or so at the top of the hill. We have 17,000 of excess capacity on the flood plain. Let's start filling it. But then again we only get four games a year on that lush green acre and many more in the Hart, so it's best we fill them both up with championship teams. I have an idea, LS. Pry open your wallet, put down a few pesos, and instruct TPTB to tear down the closed end bleachers. In it's place, have them erect a really cool meeting area for students, with some tables and chairs. Maybe include a barbecue area, and offer all kinds of food and beverages. They can call it The Longsuffering Student Pavilion at Fitton Field. Will make the place more intimate and draw more students at the same time!
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Post by longsuffering on Jul 6, 2022 14:54:35 GMT -5
Wouldn't it be cheaper to reopen the old hot dog stand under the big end zone?
Actually that is a creative idea. Like the concourse at Polar Park. It could contain wall exhibits where you touch a screen and see some of the greatest runs ever at Fitton from Bill Osmansky, Gil Fenerty, Joe Wilson, Gordie Lockbaum, etc. I wonder if Pak, the flood plain commissioner would approve the renovations?
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 7, 2022 10:13:12 GMT -5
Here's a look at home football game attendance--all totals in 1.000's
2015
High=Lafayette 10.7 Low= Albany 3.8 Median 5.3 Average 6.5
2016
High= Dartmouth 9.9 Low= Lehigh 3,7 Median= 7.7 Average= 7.2 Note: I did not include the "home game" at Yankee Stadium which drew 21.3
2017
High= Georgetown 9.1 Low= Monmouth 4.5 Median= 7.8 Average= 7.2
2018
High= Bucknell 8.3 Low= Lehigh 1.8 Median= 7.4 Average= 5.5 Note: two late games had very poor attendance Lehigh with 1.8 and Fordham with 3.0
2019
High= Colgate 10.9 Low= Lafayette 5.2 Median= 8.4 Average= 8.4
2020= Covid season played in Spring 2021
2021 Regular Season
High= Harvard 10.0 Low= Lafayette 6.5 Median= 8.2 Average= 7.7
Playoff versus Sacred Heart drew 4.2
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Post by bigfan on Jul 7, 2022 10:32:11 GMT -5
There is nothing you can do to get the people excited about Patriot League football or basketball. As a long time season ticket holder for basketball going back to the Auditorium, the attendance started to decline when we joined the Patriot League. We need to schedule better opponents which will improve recruiting and the fans will come back.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Jul 7, 2022 10:38:24 GMT -5
There is nothing you can do to get the people excited about Patriot League football or basketball. As a long time season ticket holder for basketball going back to the Auditorium, the attendance started to decline when we joined the Patriot League. We need to schedule better opponents which will improve recruiting and the fans will come back. We've had this same discussion many times, and I think the consensus has been "win and they will come." In the 2003-04 season, where we were fresh off of three straight tournament appearances, average home attendance was a tick below 3,300. Not sure that there are attendance records available going back to 1975 (first year of the Hart) up until we joined the PL, but the run we had from 2000 - 2008 was pretty damn good relating to home attendance.
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Post by longsuffering on Jul 7, 2022 10:56:12 GMT -5
Here's a look at home football game attendance--all totals in 1.000's 2015 High=Lafayette 10.7 Low= Albany 3.8 Median 5.3 Average 6.5 2016 High= Dartmouth 9.9 Low= Lehigh 3,7 Median= 7.7 Average= 7.2 Note: I did not include the "home game" at Yankee Stadium which drew 21.3 2017 High= Georgetown 9.1 Low= Monmouth 4.5 Median= 7.8 Average= 7.2 2018 High= Bucknell 8.3 Low= Lehigh 1.8 Median= 7.4 Average= 5.5 Note: two late games had very poor attendance Lehigh with 1.8 and Fordham with 3.0 2019 High= Colgate 10.9 Low= Lafayette 5.2 Median= 8.4 Average= 8.4 2020= Covid season played in Spring 2021 2021 Regular Season High= Harvard 10.0 Low= Lafayette 6.5 Median= 8.2 Average= 7.7 Playoff versus Sacred Heart drew 4.2 Thanks for the review. I bet the SHU and Villanova playoff games generated a robust audience on ESPN+. Not compared to the Super Bowl but to regular season HC games. I don't know of any Nielson type or ESPN in house tracking of FCS individual game viewership and I don't know how to value the ESPN+ benefit to HC. ESPN+ probably both depresses in person attendance and fires up the HC Diaspora and older regional fans. Because ESPN+ is by paid subscription and radio broadcasts were free, it is also difficult to judge whether the loss of one has been made up for by the rise of the other. In other words, do we now have more streaming viewers than we had radio listeners?
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 7, 2022 11:03:21 GMT -5
It appears to me that attendance has improved a bit and it certainly has not gotten worse. I’m hoping 2022 games draw good crowds to Fitton and Polar due to Worcesterites (correct term?) and driving distance alums saying “Hey, these guys are very good; they’re the real deal. I want to see some good football.”
I do understand that 50 years ago we played higher profile/more appealing teams than we play today.
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Post by CHC8485 on Jul 7, 2022 14:02:51 GMT -5
2018 High= Bucknell 8.3 Low= Lehigh 1.8Median= 7.4 Average= 5.5 Note: two late games had very poor attendance Lehigh with 1.8 and Fordham with 3.0 That 2018 home game vs. Lehigh was Family Weekend so it had potential for 8,000 - 10,000 but it was played in a monsoon. Only the most die hard of fans and family were there (and I really doubt it was 1,800). This family left after the band played their halftime show - HC19 was a senior - otherwise we may not have gone at all. I may as well have turned the shower on, walked in fully dressed, and watched the game on my computer.
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Post by WCHC Sports on Jul 7, 2022 14:06:23 GMT -5
HC Football attendance is noticeably higher over the years, but not markedly so. The stadium is also less than half full every week.
The playoff game was aired on ESPN+, but there's NO WAY that the FBS popular games, or the FBS playoff, or the FBS championship would be on a pay-to-watch app. There's NO WAY that the NCAA March Madness tournament would be behind a paywall app and not on TV, even if it was the cable networks like TBS/TNT/truTV, etc.
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Post by thecrossisback on Jul 7, 2022 15:49:35 GMT -5
That Lehigh game was crazy.
Their band stayed that whole game. I stayed until the end for that 56-0 thrashing. Teams almost fought each other at halftime.
There is no way only 4,000 at that playoff game. Much bigger crowd then that.
My question is how does this stuff even get counted and I don’t think it is accurate at all. How are students counted?
I want bigger crowds and better opponents but it doesn’t stop me from going.
Other thing about playoff games is it is cold in New England in December for these games! This not the babies from North Dakota that play indoors .
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Post by longsuffering on Jul 7, 2022 15:58:32 GMT -5
That Lehigh game was crazy. Their band stayed that whole game. I stayed until the end for that 56-0 thrashing. Teams almost fought each other at halftime. There is no way only 4,000 at that playoff game. Much bigger crowd then that. My question is how does this stuff even get counted and I don’t think it is accurate at all. How are students counted? I want bigger crowds and better opponents but it doesn’t stop me from going. Other thing about playoff games is it is cold in New England in December for these games! This not the babies from North Dakota that play indoors . That gives us an advantage if a soft dome team has to come to Fitton in the playoffs. Although North Dakota players must be used to winter and we can practice indoors all week.
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Post by sader1970 on Jul 7, 2022 16:37:17 GMT -5
It’s going to be many years before we see a playoff game in December at Fitton.
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Post by longsuffering on Jul 9, 2022 14:19:12 GMT -5
It’s going to be many years before we see a playoff game in December at Fitton. So, on the whole you would rather be in Philadelphia in December? We played in the City of Brotherly Love on December 3, 2021. If HC earns a first round bye in this or an upcoming year don't we open up at Fitton at high noon?
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Post by sader1970 on Jul 9, 2022 14:45:45 GMT -5
🤷🏻♂️
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Post by longsuffering on Jul 9, 2022 19:42:32 GMT -5
Keeping with the WC Fields references, the risk with December Football at Fitton is the weather might not be fit for man nor beast.
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